"I'm appealing it. It's B.S.," Mensch said this morning during an interview with The Express-Times editorial board. "It's one of only two or three times in my life when I truly felt threatened. Nobody waved a gun."

Mensch said he appealed his May 9 district court conviction to Berks County Court in order to preserve his reputation.

"It's my reputation," said Mensch, a Republican whose district covers parts of Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks and Montgomery counties. "I know I didn't do it. In politics, if you don't have your reputation, you don't have anything. It's already been sullied."

Mensch said he didn't want to talk in detail about the case because of the appeal, but would do so completely at the conclusion of the court case, win or lose.

Asked if he still carries a gun, Mensch said he wouldn't comment.

"I will say this," he said. "I believed then, as I believe now, in the necessity of the Bill of Rights, in which the Second Amendment is an essential component."

Mensch, 65, of Marlborough Township in Montgomery County, has maintained his innocence since word of the incident in Berks County broke in late April. Pennsylvania State Police at Hamburg filed the charge.

Mensch today described disorderly conduct as "a net they use when they don't have a charge.

"If you look at the physics of what was argued, there's no way there was any crime committed," he said.

State police stopped Mensch on I-78 after another motorist reported Mensch displayed a black handgun and held it in his right hand while driving on March 9, according to police documents.

A motorist, Brian Salisbury, alleged Mensch tailgated him, then passed and slowed down to get beside him. At that point, Salisbury testified in district court, he glanced over at the vehicle beside him and saw a gun in Mensch's hand near his lap.

Salisbury said Mensch never pointed the gun at him or waved it in a threatening manner, but he saw a black handgun with a barrel in Mensch's hand.

Mensch later testified that he didn't have a gun out at all while driving; he instead had a cell phone in his hand.

Disorderly conduct is a summary violation, which carries a fine and potential for some jail time, although prosecutors aren't seeking the latter.

Mensch said the conviction doesn't affect his permits to carry concealed weapons.

State police said they found two guns in Mensch's state vehicle -- a .40-caliber Glock pistol partially concealed in a day planner and a .22-caliber revolver in the glove box. Mensch has permits for both, authorities said.

Mensch said the larger handgun was still in his vehicle because he had bought it the night before.